Wire-fabric-handling means



May s, 192s.

2 Sheets-Sneak 1 N. S. HARTER WIRE FABRIC HANDLING MEANS Original Filed June 22, 1923 r l ENTER Vii-447;.

May s, 1928. 1,668,846 V N. s. HARTER WIRE FABRIC HANDLING MEANS Original Filed June 22, 1925 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May s, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NOAH s. Hemline WAUKEGAN. ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T CYCLONE FENCE cou- IANY, or WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS, a CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

WIRE-FABRICHANDLING MEANS.

Original application filed June 1923, Serial No. 647,096. Patent No. 1,489,076. Divided and fll ll application filed March 28, 1924. Serial No. 702,587.

after weaving, in whichfabric the members or pickets thereof are interlinked with ad aceut members and movable relatively thereto.

Another object is to provide an improved means for accompllslnng the, above mentioned object and adapted to prevent the adjacent picket members from adhering together after galvanizing until the zincspelter has cooled and set, whereby the zinc coating is evenly distributedover the wire members forming said pickets.

A further and more specific object is to provide an improved apparatus for carrying out my improved process.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become readily apparent to persons skilled in, the art from a'consideration of the following description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fragment the fabric and chain' by which it is moved thru the bath. i

Fig. 2 is an elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a link of the conveying chain.

Fig. at is a central section on line l;-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view 'of an ap paratus for zinc-coating .chain-link fabric.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation thereof;

"In all the views the same reference charactcrs are employed to indicate corresponding parts. i

. The invention will be explained with spect to its use for Zinc-coating fencing, of the type known as chain-link fabric. in which a series of transversely extending picket members are interlinked by interconnection of their mesh forming portions. As the interlinked portions of these pickets are loose and movable relativel to each other to a limited extent, itisdesirable that the arcuate bendsof the interlinked portions be positively held apart after being zinccoated, until the coating has become hardened: by cooling, or drying, to insure a smooth, uniform and evenly coated surface on the wires. 1

thereof taken In any event the reticulated fabric is sub merged in or drawn through a suitable bath of coating material, preferably zinc-spelter, andpreferably while continuously moving saidfabric, and after being submerged, the coated fabric is allowed to cool and harden before being wound into a roll for shipment;

In the drawings I have illustratedschematically an apparatus by Whichiny inven-.

tion may successfully be carried into efiect. The apparatusis generally indicated by 10, m which a. roll 11. of uncoated fabric,

which is to be coated, is preferably mounted on a seriesof rollers 12 and 13 supported on asuitable pedestal 14. i

A tub or kettle 15 contains the coating material which may be molten zine-spelter when the fabric is to be galvanized. The

.spolter 16, or other coating material, may

be heated in the kettle or pan by any suit able means.

Located in the kettle and secured to an angle bar 17 are a series of J-shape fabric guide bars 18, and secured to an angle bar 19 1s a dividing plate 20. y

The fabric 11 is preferably moved through the kettle between the sides and bot tom thereof and the guide bars 18. a The guide bars prevent the fabric from ris-- V ing in the bath out of contact with the coatingmaterial.

Any suitable'means may be employed for operating the moving parts of the a paratus.

The power mavbe applied to a pul ey 21-on a shaft 21 which is gearedto-a shaft 23 through suitable gear wheels, only one, of which, however, is shown, this being the gear wheel 22011 the shaft 23. A sprocket pinion 24 -on shaft 23 drives shaft 26 through a sprocket chain 27 and a sprocket wheel 28 on said shaft 26.

. A shaft 29 mounted above the remote edge of the kettle 15 is driven from a sprocket wheel, not shown, on shaft. 26 by a chain 30 which passes about a sprocket wheel 31 on shaft 29. By this means shafts 26 and 29 are preferably driven at the same speed.

y A series of fabric moving sprocket wheels 32 are mounted on the shaft 29. These sprocket wheels have sprockets properly spaced'to enter into the meshopenings of the fabric formed by its interlinked portions to move the fabric.

. Special sprocket wheels 33 are mounted on the shaft 26 and similar sprocket wheels 34 are mounted on shaft- These special 8 rocket wheels engage and drive special (1 ins-36, shown in full lines in 1 and 2 and in dotted lines .in Figs. 5 and 6, and said chains engage and move the fabric after it leaves the bath, clearly shown enlarged in Figs. 1 and 2.

The chain 36, of which three links are shown in Fig. 1, is composed of a series of links 37, individually shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Each link 37has spaced lugs 38-38 with aligned openings to receive a pintle which passes through a perforation in the single lug 39 of an adjacent link, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Between the lugs of eachllink and risingtherefrom is a tooth or hollow archlikestructure 41 tapered toward its top por tion and slightly skewed, as at 4'2 to more readily enter the meshes of the fence fabric. The arch portion or tooth 41 of each link, is substantially rectangular near its bottom -end, in plan outline, to enter the meshes formed by adjacent wires toseparatc their arcuate and interlinked bends when the links of the chain are in a singlehorizontal plane, asshown in Fig. 1. Each link is provided with laterally extending side wings 43 to more, roperly support the fabric.

In t1e"chain-link fabric illustrated, each picket consists of two wires 44 and eh") formed with alternately disposed angular bends and interlinked with each other and with adjacent wires and twisted togetherat their terminal ends, as at 46. 'lVhenthe fabricis not under stress the pickets may be movedi'elatively to each other. Normally the interlinkedarcuate bends of. the wires Maud 45 are in mutual contact, as shown at 47, when hanging by their weight or .when strain is applied to them, tending to separate'them.

.As the fabric is drawn from the bath by the chains 36, the teeth 37 thereof, which "firstenter the meshes between the respective wires forming the fabric, radiate from the axes of the sprocketwheels 28, see Fig. 2, and as they each successively assume an approximately common horizontal plane, their .arch like structures 41 enter the meshes formed by the angular interlinked portions of adjacent wires. The interlinked arcua'te bends 47 of said wires settle down between the rectangular basesof said teeth 37, the corners 41? of said rectangular bases. The interposition of the interlinked arcuate bends 4-.7 of-the wires between the bases of the teeth 37 acts to separate the interlinked arcuate bends 47, as at 4E8, by forcibly restricting the distance of separation between adjacent pickets. The pickets are thus forcibly held apart until after the release of the fabricby the chains as they pass around the sprocket wheels '34. Such separation of the wires, as at -18, takes place before the coating has set, and immediately after the changing position of the angular bends in the wires,-due to their movement over the sprocket wheels .28, so that thecoating may have a chance to uniformly cover-the bends in=the wiresbefore setting and thereby pronormally flow-over the angular bends in the wires as they are drawn from the bath owing to their being at an inclination to the surface of the bath when leaving the same, and the surplus spelter will naturally drain back into the bath and yet,,at the same time, icave I a con' paratively heavy coating of spelter on the wires.

This ap ilication is a division of the ap plication filed by me June 22, 192i} bearing Serial No. 647,096, issued April 1, 1924, as Patent No. 1,489,076.

lVhat 1 claim is 1. -In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of chains for moxing a wire fabric of chain-link character, each chain including hinged links, and each link having a hollow arched-tooth slightly skewed adapted for entrance between the linked wires of the fabric to forcibly sep arate such wires.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, sprocket chains composed of hinged links, each link naving a hollow arched shaped tooth to receive the teeth of a sprocket wheel, and said teeth being tapered toward their top portions.

3. A sprocket chain for moving a wire fabric composed of a plurality of picket members loosely interlinked and movable relatively to-each other, said chain including aseries of hinged links, rounded projections for insertion within the meshes of the fabric and adapted to se 'iarate the pickets from contact with each other when said'links are in a common plane.

4. A sprocket chain comprising a series of links, each linkhaving an opening to re ceive a tooth of a sprocket wheel and. a hollow tapered arch-like tooth spanning said 

